Occidental Petroleum Corporation

Does the core business genuinely avoid or reduce emissions, or build climate resilience? Share of revenue that is actually 'green'. Fossil-dependent models score low.

The core business is Permian Basin oil and gas extraction; the company announced intentions to produce up to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024 (a ~10% increase), directly contradicting IEA net-zero pathway requirements, and its DAC subsidiary Stratos is projected to capture at most a negligible fraction of U.S. annual CO₂ emissions at full scale.

Credible, science-based targets (SBTi), a real net-zero plan with progress to date, and CDP disclosure — not just a dated press release.

Oxy has self-declared net-zero Scope 1&2 targets before 2040 (ambition 2035) and a total-inventory net-zero ambition before 2050, and discloses via CDP, but these targets are NOT SBTi-validated, rely heavily on unproven CCUS/DAC rather than production phase-down, and independent analysts find them misaligned with 1.5°C pathways; the medium-term Scope 3 target is CCUS-driven rather than emissions-reduction-driven.

Operational footprint, labour and social practices, and governance quality across the company's own operations and supply chain.

Occidental links executive compensation to climate metrics and has endorsed zero routine flaring, but retains significant legacy environmental liabilities from OxyChem sites, faces ongoing shareholder pressure over inadequate lobbying disclosure, and its CrownRock acquisition materially increases its Permian Basin production footprint and associated emissions.

Quality of disclosure, independent third-party verification, and how much hard data backs the company's claims.

Oxy files an annual CDP questionnaire and publishes a sustainability/climate report, but Carbon Market Watch noted Oxy did not respond to requests for clarification on strategy inconsistencies, lobbying disclosure remains opaque per shareholder proposals, and third-party verification of DAC carbon accounting is limited and contested.

Controversies, litigation, pollution, fossil-fuel lobbying, conflict-zone involvement and governance scandals. Higher means cleaner.

Oxy's CEO publicly stated DAC gives the oil industry 'a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years,' critics widely characterize the net-zero oil strategy as greenwashing, the company carries legacy OxyChem environmental liabilities, and its use of captured CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery (which boosts crude production) is condemned by environmental groups as undermining its own climate claims.